Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities, Settlements and Memorial Sites in the Czech Republic

Due to the death of Jiří Fiedler – the author of the Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities in Bohemia and Moravia – the
distribution of as yet incomplete encyclopaedia entries has been suspended. Only entries that are complete are available for
distribution. If you have any questions about the history of Jewish communities in the Czech Republic, please contact
daniel.polakovic@jewishmuseum.cz

Despite growing public interest, the history of the Jewish community of Bohemia and Moravia has so far been documented only
in a fragmentary way. Often, the only available material for those interested in this topic are pre-war publications and specific
articles, which are being supplemented only gradually by more recent research. In an attempt to satisfy the needs of many
inquirers, we have decided to gradually make available online the Encyclopaedia of Jewish Communities, Settlements and Memorial
Sites in the Czech Republic. This work was launched by Jiří Fiedler on the basis of his private archive.

The encyclopaedia is the result of Jiří Fiedler's more than thirty years’ work involving the extraction of archival and
library sources, correspondence and on-site research in various localities. This work formed the basis of Jiří Fiedler's
earlier book Jewish Sights in Bohemia and Moravia (published by Sefer, 1992; English version 1991). The encyclopaedia entries
that are gradually being made accessible in electronic form, however, are far more extensive and detailed.

At present, about a fifth of the total number of encyclopaedia entries (of which there will be several thousand) have been completed. These include

a description of the Jewish street or quarter, important public buildings, (where available) a list of residential buildings and their occupants

information on cemeteries

a list of preserved registers of birth, a selection of other major archival materials, and at least a partial list of available illustrations of the given locality

Individual data are indicated by a symbol for the source from which they were taken. Each entry ends with a list of literature
and sources used.

For the sake of completeness, published data that is erroneous, disputable or contradictory, as well as earlier and more recently
revised opinions, are cited alongside each other. Particular use has been made of specialist literature published in Czech
and German. The main archival materials to have been excerpted so far in the most systematic way are some of the earliest
census lists of the Jewish population, as well as certain registers. Data from municipal chronicles, oral information from
former inhabitants and facts obtained by personally checking the state of former Jewish settlements/monuments and the condition
of areas where Jewish sites once stood (synagogues, cemetery buildings, etc.) are often of extraordinary value.

What did not fit in the encyclopedia?

In addition to the many early archival materials that have not yet been excerpted, the Holocaust period, too, is not covered
in the encyclopaedia (apart from a few exceptions). Holocaust-related research and documentation is being conducted by the
Museum’s Shoah History Department
and other specialised institutions. Similarly, the encyclopaedia does not contain comprehensive information on ritual objects
from individual localities which are now housed in the collections of the Jewish Museum in Prague. This area is being gradually
researched in the Museum’s Documentation Department.

The information that has been put together has not been processed in the form of a continuous text (apart from a few exceptions).
It is mostly in the form of a list of facts and numerical data that have been excerpted from various sources so far. Individual
entries are of various length, from a quarter of a page to fifty pages, depending on the historical importance of the given
locality and on the amount of sources researched so far.

Sample entries

Order form for encyclopaedia entries

You can order the above six entries (which include photographic illustrations), as well as entries from the index of entries that are ready for distribution. The latter entries, unlike those on display, are not provided with photographic illustrations. You can order photographs by contacting the Museum’s Photo Archive:

The requested files will be sent to you on a CD, together with an invoice.